Is Your Site Speed Optimized?

As pointed out on Google’s Research Blog, speed matters. Google ran a test on their search results to determine how page loading time affects user satisfaction. In Google’s experiment, they injected a delay of only 100 to 400 milliseconds. The decline in the number of searches is certainly measurable.

While none of us have the traffic level of Google, it still brings up an interesting question: Is your site speed-optimized?There are several reasons to optimize the speed and functionality of your page:

Increase user satisfaction through usability efficiency

Increase time-on-page metrics

Decrease your own and your users’ bandwidth needs

In addition to code-level changes you can make on your website, functionality changes will also increase the user’s perception of speed and performance. The efficiency in which users can achieve their goal on your site is as important as how fast your site loads.

The bottom line is that when we speed-optimize our pages, it increases usability – the keystone to increased conversions.

Google recently published a resource for developers that shares knowledge of how we can code to make web pages load faster. While most developers and designers know most of these tips, it is great to have all of these resources in one place; everything from articles to downloads to community forums.